Still Haunting My Mind
by Emalyn Honeyticket
Summary: A year after the terrible events at the Opera House, Christine can't get the Phantom off of her mind. Unable to deal with her urges any longer, she sets off to find out what happened to her Angel of Music. EC. Written with my friend Jess.
1. The Fight

(A/N: Okay, here we go! My friend Jess and I are working on this story together. It's based more on the Phantom movie than the musical since I haven't seen the musical in a few years and the movie is fresh in my head at the moment. This is a sequel of sorts to the movie. Enjoy!)

Many could recall the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera, but very few know what had actually happened. One of whom who did know was Christine Daae, a bright and beautiful girl who was for a large portion of her life "haunted" by what she called the Angel of Music. After a series of several unfortunate events involving both this Phantom and Christine, he finally set her free and hasn't been seen since.

Once the Phantom had set Christine and Raoul free, they had moved to a neighboring city and were married right away. But even after they'd been released from the Phantom's constant eye, Christine couldn't forget him. All she could think about was how much her Angel of Music had cried when he let her go with the man she loved, even though he knew he could never love anyone that much again.

Although Raoul wanted to forget that this monster had ever existed, he couldn't help noticing how distant Christine had been with him since the incident. She had obviously been affected by the Phantom and couldn't stop worrying about him. This secretly made Raoul angry, but he promised himself that he would never bring these feelings up unless she provoked them.

Christine laid silently in the bed she shared with Raoul. She sighed softly and turned onto her side, glancing at the clock on the bedside table. This was normal for Christine, she found it near impossible to fall asleep almost every night. As much as she tried to deny that the Phantom still remained with her, it couldn't be done. Thoughts of him plagued her constantly, denying her any chance to move on and just be normal. Although, to be fair, Christine wasn't sure if it might actually be her fault that the thoughts hadn't left her, after all, did she really want them to?

As though to make her feel more guilty for having this thought, Raoul moved towards her in the dark, wrapping his arm around her waist. She flinched slightly. "Christine? What's the matter?" He asked. "Don't be frightened. It's only me." He kissed her neck softly. Yes, she thought, it was only him.

"Oh... it's," Christine began to tell him, but stopped herself. She couldn't ever get that image of the Phantom crying out of her head, and had never spoken to Raoul about it since they left his lair in the opera house that one last time. "It's nothing..."

Raoul smiled and pulled her closer to him, but Christine used her legs to lightly push him back away from her. She was too overwhelmed to let him touch her, thinking about the man who once gave her a beautiful singing voice and now was probably alone and thinking about her as well.

"Do you... do you ever think about the Phantom?" Christine asked him quietly, wondering if Raoul was as tormented by this memory as she was. "I mean, do you ever wonder what happened to him?"

Raoul let go of her then. "What? Of course not... let's not talk about this Christine." He turned away from her.

Christine turned over to look at him, to try to explain, but he wasn't facing her anymore. "Raoul, please," She said softly. She put her hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her. "I'm sorry. It's just..." She looked away from him, the image of the Phantom crying entering her mind once again, "it's not easy for me to forget. Can't you understand that?"

He frowned slightly. "I've tried to be understanding Christine, but I can't even touch you anymore without you bringing up his name. You married me Christine... Don't you love me?"

"Of course I do, Raoul... but we just can't forget what happened!"

"He wanted us to! He told us to leave and forget all about him and all of the terrible things he did to us, Christine! Why can't you just drop it and get on with your life? It's been a whole year, damnit!" Raoul said loudly. He was angry, but he hadn't really begun to yell at her yet.

"The Angel has never been able to leave my mind... he still haunts me in my dreams and I can't stop thinking about him," Christine replied.

Raoul took a deep breath, knowing what he was about to say would hurt Christine but that it had to be said. "Christine, he's not your Angel. He's a monster and nothing less! And I'm sure whatever terrible things he's going through right now he probably deserves!" He yelled at her, sitting up in bed and moving away from her. Holding his head in annoyance, Raoul tried to calm himself down. He couldn't handle that she was still so hung up about this.

Christine threw the covers off and got out of the bed, now she stood over Raoul, tears in her eyes. "How could you say that? You don't know anything about him! He was tortured his whole life Raoul, by people like you. People with no compassion."

"I have no compassion?" He stood up to meet her. "That's a good one. What about you? You and I are married Christine, married! And instead of spending time with me and loving me all you can talk about is him!"

"You know what; you're just making it worse. How you can say you love me and then not care when I'm so upset about something is just beyond me. I just... I have to go," Christine said as she began to put her shoes on, pulled a robe on over her nightgown, and started to take her coat from the closet.

Raoul ran after her as she went around, collecting her things to go out. "Christine, it's after midnight; you can't just go out now!"

Turning to look him in the eye, Christine searched her mind and his face for any reason at all to stay, but just couldn't find one. But before she turned to leave, she leaned in and kissed him sweetly. "I'm sorry... but this is just something I have to do. Nobody deserves to be alone for their whole lives; not even him. I'll keep in touch."

And with that, Christine stormed outside in her bathrobe, a coat, and a pair of shoes. It was snowing outside in the darkness and the streetlights were out since it was so late at night, but she didn't care. She knew she had to find the Phantom, or at least find out what happened to him.

(A/N: Review? Please? Since this is new, I want to know if you guys have any suggestions or criticisms so this story can get better as Jess and I go. Thanks for reading!)


	2. Back to the Opera House

(A/N: I don't own the story or the characters. Again, my friend Jess is writing this with me. Please leave reviews... we really love to know how we're doing!) 

Christine stopped walking and wrapped her robe tighter around her body. It was freezing and she had no idea what she was doing or where she was going. The only thing she knew was that she had to see her Angel. Making her descision quickly, she headed around to the side of the house where the carriages were. Lucky for her, the horses were already ready to go. She knew that Raoul would be angry that she'd taken his carriage, but it was cold and Christine couldn't see a better option, so she got into the carriage and rode off down the road.

Knowing that Madame Giry would know better than anyone where he could be, Christine followed the dark streets all the way to the Opera House, a place that had been her home since she was seven years old. The ride was long since she and Raoul had moved away from the Opera House after they'd been married, but eventually, she reached the front of the beautiful building that was still undergoing renovations from the explosions caused by the Phantom's final outburst of anger before he disappeared.

Christine tied up the horses out front and climbed down from the carriage, hurriedly running up the steps to the Opera House and inside. She immediately ran to where Madame Giry's bedchamber was, up the tall staircase and down the hallway to the left of it. Worried that Madame wouldn't be angry after being awaken at such a late hour, Christine was relieved to see that Madame was actually sitting at her desk, buried deeply into a book.

Christine cleared her throat lightly to get Mme. Giry's attention. She looked up from her book and stood up immediately, obviously shocked to see who was standing in front of her. "Christine! What are you doing here? How are you?" She walked quickly across the room to embrace Christine.

"I'm fine Madame." She said. "Look... I... I need to ask you something."

"What is it?" Mme. Giry asked. She took Christine's hands in her own, noticing how cold they were. She knew from the paleness of Christine's face that it must be about him. "If it's about him..." she started.

"I need to know where he is." Christine told her. "I need to speak with him."

Madame Giry shook her head and squeezed Christine's hands tightly. "I'm sorry. He asked me to tell no one where he has gone."

Christine frowned. "Please. I really must speak to him."

"I understand, I'm terribly sorry." She smiled at Christine and released her hands. Christine nodded slightly and turned to leave the room. Before she had reached the door, Mme. Giry called back to her, "If you need a place to rest... you're welcome to stay."

Smiling sweetly, Christine replied, "Thank you, Madame... that would be really helpful." Christine began to make her way down the hall to where her old room was, when someone grabbed her from behind and shouted her name.

"CHRISTINE! I haven't seen you in ages!"

Turning around, Christine saw that her old friend Meg had been woken up by the noise in her mother's room and had come outside to see who'd come. "Oh, Meg! It's great to see you again!" Christine embraced Meg as the girls were reunited once again.

"How's Raoul? Why have you come back? God, I've missed you!" Meg said energetically, but was silenced by her mother, who'd come out of her room to tell the girls to settle down and reminded them how late it was.

Whispering, Christine said, "Actually, I left Raoul to be here. You see, we kind of had a fight over... over... the Phantom." She knew that it wouldn't be a great time to call him her Angel, especially since everybody but her thought of him as a terrible monster.

Meg grabbed Christine's arm and hurriedly led her back to her old room. "In that case, there's really something that you need to see."

The room was exactly as Christine had remembered it. Every detail exact from the night that she had left. Christine felt a chill as she entered the room and looked in front of her. The two way mirror the Phantom had been using to see her was still open as if it had been waiting for her to return all this time. Meg led her through it and into the dark passageway. It was nothing like Christine remembered. Hadn't it been dry and well lit? Now the stone was damp and the candelabras that lined the walls were covered by cobwebs and dust.

The two girls took the path that Christine had taken the first time she'd ever been into the cellars, down the stairs and across the lake into the Phantom's lair. Christine gasped when she saw it. It was in shambles. Glass and parchment littered the floor and all the mirrors had been shattered. The Phantom's model of the stage had been crushed and burned, only ashes remained on the mantle. A tear ran down Christine's cheek and she wondered how people could have ever been so cruel to her Angel.

As she continued to move around the place that had once been the beautiful home of this man, the worst thing of all came into her view. The gorgeous organ that she remembered from her last visit to this place seemed to have received the worst torture of all her Angel's belongings. It was no longer this gargantuan piece of art with every detail perfect and beautiful, but had turned to a pile of scrap wood littered with torn and burnt pieces of paper.

Bending down, she picked up a stack of these old papers and noticed that they were the remains of the wonderful songs he'd written only a year ago. And now, they ceased to exist anymore. This man was a genius and all evidence of his amazing talents had been ripped to shreds and burnt by the angry mob that came after him that terrible night.

"I managed to save this, though..." Meg said. Christine turned around and immediately noticed that she was holding his mask; his first piece of clothing and the one thing that could hide his mutation from the world. This particular item brought back more memories than anything else.

Christine reached out to touch the soft white leather, remembering the first time she pulled it off his face to reveal what the world saw as a monster. But to her, he was beautiful and unique; never less than a genius who was clearly misunderstood.

"...Can I have it?" Christine asked Meg, who nodded and handed the mask to her. Christine took the mask and ran her fingers over it. "Thank you..." she said softly. She hugged Meg tightly. "You'll never know what this means to me." Meg nodded.

Christine continued to walk around the lair that she'd remembered so well, taking in the sadness and horror that came with the destruction that had been left in place of the beauty that used to be there. She ran her fingers over the broken glass of the mirrors. She didn't expect that the mob had done this, rather, she thought, it would've been her Angel. Christine thought back on the night that she had left. She couldn't bear to imagine how unbelievably devastated the Angel must have been when she left him sitting alone and crying.

Christine was so lost in thought that she barely noticed that her hand went through one of the mirrors rather than against it. Startled, she looked up at where the glass had broken away to reveal another dark passage. "Meg!" She called out to her friend, who ran to her side. "Where does this go?"

After running over, Meg looked at the passage through where one of the broken mirrors had been. "I'm not sure... this must've been how he escaped though," She said. "After he set you free and I ran in here, he was gone."

Biting her lip, Christine knew what she had to do. "I need to find him, Meg... just see him again." She was about to go through the dark passage when Meg called to her.

"Wait!" Meg said, and her friend stopped. "Christine... what happened that night?"

Christine looked down at the damp ground, then at the mask in her hands. "I've... I've never told anyone this," She took a deep breath. "I... I kissed him, Meg."

The horror on Meg's face was extremely apparent as Christine revealed this little detail to her. "Why!"

Taking in a deep breath, Christine replied, "He loves me, Meg... that's why he was doing all of those terrible things. He just didn't know how to handle his feelings and it got out of control. At first I just kissed him to convince him to set Raoul free, but it became more than that... it was amazing." Tears poured from Christine's eyes as she remembered that day. "Then he set Raoul and I free... we just left him here to die, and I won't be able to forgive myself until I know he's safe, Meg."

Meg just gaped awkwardly at Christine. There were hardly words to describe everything she was hearing. "Okay... what are you saying, Christine?" She asked.

"I have to go," she said, motioning to the opening in the mirror. "Are you coming with me?"

Meg shook her head. "Christine... are you sure you don't want to think about this? I really don't think that it's a good idea. He kills people Christine, what makes you think he won't kill you too?"

"I told you." Christine began, "He loves me. And I..." she stopped herself short of saying that she loved him as well; did she really? "I just need to find him." She concluded. She hugged Meg again before heading into the passage.

"Christine, wait!" Meg called after her, but Christine didn't stop. Meg watched her disappear into the darkness until her figure was no longer visible.

(A/N: Okay, there we go! Please review... I'll love you forever! And I promise, We'll have some E/C loving soon!)


	3. The Secret Passage

(A/N: This is kind of a short one. I don't own the characters and stuff, yeah… enjoy! Jess wrote most of this chapter because she's awesome!) 

"Christine, wait!" Meg's voice reverberated through the darkness of the passageway, but Christine didn't stop. The passage was dark stone like the one that had led her to the Phantom's lair. The ground was covered by a thin layer of water. Christine trudged further on, all the while holding in her hand the mask that had started it all.

Her hands ran over and over the carved lines of the mask as her feet took her further and deeper into the passage. The water was considerably higher here, and Christine could feel it seeping into her shoes and lapping against her ankles. The ground beneath her was sloping quickly now and it wasn't long before she was wading completely into it, not unlike the way she had on that fateful night.

Christine had been walking for what seemed like forever. She was cold and wet and still without the slightest clue of where she was going. And then a thought came to her so clearly that she wondered how she hand't thought of it before. She began to sing:

Say you'll share with me

One love, one lifetime

Lead me, save me from my solitude

Share each day with me

Each night, each morning...

Her voice bounded loudly off the stone walls and repeated all around her long after she'd ceased singing. It wasn't what it had been a year ago. It was shaky and rough; the pureness that had come with her Angel's teachings had left as he had. But despite the coarseness, she continued to sing. And then she heard it:

Anywhere you go let me go too...

Christine, that's all I ask of you

His voice was the same. The way he said her name sent shivers up and down her spine. Her mind spun wildly and immediately it was as though time had spun backwards a year. He was inside her mind again, calling to her, coaxing her to come to him. She ran faster now, following the sound of his voice, though she could've sworn that it was only in her head. She ran until she thought her legs might break, until at last she collapsed upon a bank of sand. Darkness swirled behind her eyes, she could hear her heart pounding in her head, and then everything went black.

He couldn't believe what had just happened; was he going mad, or had he really just heard the voice he'd been dreaming of for a whole year? A few seconds later, he noticed that her footsteps and the sound of her voice had stopped and he was enveloped in silence yet again. He couldn't take the idea that this was all in his imagination, so he stood up and ran down the damp halls, knowing that he had to find her.

Careful to listen for any other footsteps, the thin creature ran through the shadows until finally he reached a sand bank where he saw her... Christine; just as beautiful and perfect as he saw her in his dreams. It had been so long since he'd last seen her and finally they'd been reunited by some odd streak of fate.

Moving closer to her motionless body, he took in the situation around him. Christine had actually come back to him after his so many months of waiting for her. He leaned down and brushed a strand of her soft, curly brown hair out of her face and glided his finger across her smooth cheek. She was every bit as radiant as he remembered her; even in the darkness of the underground passage, she seemed to glow.

"Christine?" He said it softly, running his fingers down towards her neck. There was no response. Very carefully he lifted her off the ground, cradling her in his arms. He took her to his new lair; the one that he had inhabited for a year now. It was nothing compared to the place he used to call his home, but it suited him fine. He placed Christine down gently upon his bed and sat beside her.

She was absolutely perfect, he thought. Everything about her was exactly as he'd remembered, except for her voice. He was sad to have heard that her voice had been lost in the time they'd been apart, but it was nothing that couldn't be cured. He took Christine's hand gently in his own, running his thumb over her smooth skin, and he began to sing to her. He sang of love and of love that had been lost; things that he had written since she'd left him. She was his muse, his everything, and every word that poured out of him spoke volumes about the miracle that was Christine Daae. He would sing until she was awake; he wanted to be sure that the first thing she heard was his voice.

(A/N: Okay, there ya go! Please please review… We'll probably update more often if you do!)


	4. A Much Needed Reunion

(A/N: Woohoo! More updates! This is DEFINITELY my favorite so far... and you guys who've been following it will love it too, I think. Jess is my hero and made this update as hot as it is... so YAY JESS! Enjoy, haha!)

Suddenly, Christine couldn't remember where she was. Her senses were slowly coming back to her as she laid down with her eyes softly shut. After about a minute, she was able to recognize the voice that was singing to her.

She let her eyes flutter open and smiled, seeing that her Angel of music was sitting by her bedside. He looked completely different than she remembered him; he looked like he'd been through a lot in the past year. He had terrible bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in weeks and his hair was rugged and loose; a complete turnaround from his usually combed and neat jet black hair.

The phantom no longer looked so threatening; he'd obviously been affected by his change in lifestyle. When he noticed that she'd awoken, he stopped singing. Christine's eyes immediately drifted to the uncovered mutations that spread across the right side of his face and he timidly lifted a hand to block it from her view.

Christine realized that she must've dropped his mask when she fainted earlier, but after a moment of looking at his face once again, she realized that maybe it was for the best. She recalled the dreadful night when she'd last seen him, remembering how he'd changed his ways to let her marry Raoul no matter how much he hated to see her go. Those final minutes with him gave her a new perspective on his unfortunate circumstances; he was no longer a deformed monster in her eyes, but a real person with feelings. It didn't take her long after that to realize that she'd made a mistake.

"No... it's alright, Angel," she said, parting from her memories. She slowly sat up and reached for the hand that covered his face, placing her hand gently over it.

But he couldn't bring himself to remove his hand. The last time she'd seen his face, Christine left him forever and he was forced to retreat here... to this slimy sewer of a home. However, the longer her soft hand touched his, the more he wanted to surrender to this beautiful woman he'd fallen in love with so long ago.

Christine kept her hand on his, determined to get him to move it from his face. She pulled slightly on it, but he stopped her. "Please don't." He told her. His eyes pleaded with her silently.

"Why?" She asked him softly.

"I'm hideous." He said it softly, his eyes down towards the ground, his voice shaking slightly. She would regret it, he thought. No one was ever okay with his face, no one had ever loved him and looked at him as though he was a human being. Why should Christine be any different? They all wanted to know, needed to see what was behind the mask, and once they did they would run. That was how it had always been. He closed his eyes and held his hand firmly against his face.

"No." Christine said. She squeezed his hand tightly. She waited for a response, but there was none, his eyes remained closed, his head down. "You're not." She removed her hand from his and brought it below his chin, lifting his head up. He opened his eyes. "You're beautiful." She whispered. And with that she removed his hand from his face and took it into her own.

Their eyes connected. "You're beautiful." She repeated. His eyes brimmed with tears. Christine smiled at him softly. She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it gently before releasing it. She expected him to cover his face again, but he didn't. Instead he sat in stunned silence, tears running down his face.

Christine's expression softened as she saw that yet again, she'd gotten to him. It seemed as if every time she made him feel even the slightest bit good about himself, he couldn't keep from crying. She felt terrible, having this effect on him but was determined to get him feeling more comfortable nonetheless.

Leaning closer to him, Christine reached up to gently wipe the tears from his eyes. As soon as he realized what she was about to do, he backed away from her touch. "Angel, I'm not going to hurt you..."

"When are you going to realize it, Christine! You've already hurt me... more than anyone ever has!" he raised his voice, standing up and backing away from her.

"...What?" Christine said quietly, gazing at him with her big brown eyes. She had no idea what he was talking about. "Angel, I..."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

Silencing herself, Christine sat there and looked at the Phantom. He'd gone from being so sensitive and emotional to defensive and agressive, so she thought it best to let him calm down on his own.

"Why did you come back here! What made you think that you can just barge right back into my life when you had everything going for you!" He yelled.

Christine barely whispered, afraid to anger him even more, "I... I missed you..."

The Phantom had now turned away from her, but she could see from behind that he was carefully planning his next verbal attack. She affected him more than she could ever know. He slowly turned back around again, looking at this amazing girl who'd obviously given up everything she had to be with him. And his mind couldn't seem to process why in the hell anyone would give up their perfect fairytale ending to be with him.

He took a deep breath and sat back down on the bed, his back towards her. Neither of them spoke for awhile. Christine simply stared at his back, wondering whether he would lash out at her if she was to speak again. A time or two she made to reach out and touch his shoulder, but thought better of it and returned her hand carefully to her lap.

"Erik." He said finally. He turned slightly so he could look at Christine's face.

"What?" She asked him softly. He raised his head up slightly to catch Christine's eyes with his own.

"My name. It's Erik." Christine smiled.

"Erik." She tested it out. She moved closer to him, chancing finally to touch him. She placed her hand on his own which was on his lap. "It suits you."

Neither of them dared to speak or move; neither of them wanted to endanger the connection that was quickly forming between them. Christine breathed slowly and shallowly, watching Erik's eyes closely for any sign of discomfort, but there was none. Her thumb moved gently across his hand and his eyes broke from hers to look down to the place where their skin was touching. He spread his fingers out, interlocking them with Christine's.

She remembered that his hands had been cold before, but now that wasn't the case. His fingers were warm and soft against her own and Christine let her own gaze trail down to their hands as well. She wondered how something so simple, so innocent as holding hands, could be creating such a charge between them. After all, she thought, she held hands with Raoul everday, but it was never like this. Carefully, as not to scare Erik, Christine brought her free hand to his face, touching his deformed skin. He flinched slightly, but her touch was so soft, so gentle that he had no reason to fear her.

His skin was rough and strange against her fingers, but she didn't mind. Her fingers traced the contours of his face, memorizing every line. There was nothing frightening about him now, he was so vulnerable, so undeniably human that she wondered how she'd ever doubted it, how she could've ever been afraid of this man. Her eyes flickered innocently to his lips and she noticed how different they were from the rest of his face. So soft, so innocently untouched; except by herself. She thought back to the night she'd left him, to the kiss they shared. As mad at him as she'd been, as afraid for Raoul's life and her own, she had never been able to deny the feelings she got from kissing him. There was no comparison. No matter how many times she'd kissed Raoul, no matter how intimately, it couldn't ever compare to the gentle and innocent way Erik had kissed her.

And then Christine found that her eyes were fixed on those lips. Her fingers ran across them gently. They were as soft as she'd remembered. As she touched them, Erik gripped her hand tighter and took in a sharp breath of air. Christine's gaze went immediately to his eyes and she found that his were already fixated on her. There was a dark passion in them, one she'd only ever seen in him when he was playing his music. The thought of it sent chills up and down her spine. There was nothing he loved more than his music, he craved it in a way that should've been sinful and yet, he craved her just as much. Christine shut her eyes momentarily, trying to regain composure, but it was impossible. He craved her. It was imprinted in her brain now, there was no denying it, she needed to feel it all again, that connection. She licked her lips absentmindedly and slowly closed her eyes and leaned in towards him.

(A/N: Don't ya love us? Review and maybe we'll update soon!)


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